I can't keep up with the weather. It's cold again. Maybe I just imagined wearing shorts yesterday. This morning's walk saw the return of warm coats and gloves. The dogs seemed to enjoy the brisk weather, but I was just perplexed. What happened to yesterday?Dot and Dash seemed determined to test my patience today. Dash barked constantly while I was trying to eat breakfast. He woke up Dot, who had been sleeping peacefully and then she started barking too. Meals used to be relaxing, but not anymore. In the morning they want me to feed them treats and in the evenings I have to be careful the Dot doesn't pee on everything. It's a three ring circus.
It took me most of the afternoon to get my December invoices out and finish a very modest amount of online Christmas shopping. Once Dot wakes up after her morning nap, she is determined to stay moving for the rest of the day. Since she can't move very far without my help, I am constantly walking her up and down the hall with periodic excursions outside to smell things. I don't know why Dot is so restless now. She doesn't seem to be in pain or anything. Actually, she seems pretty happy as long as I attend to her, but she sure doesn't want to take an afternoon nap anymore.
Eventually the dogs get tired, but I almost always end up getting tired first. My work has always required long periods of solitude. Without this peace and quiet, my writing lacks focus and the code I write often doesn't work at all. Even though I'm not nearly as busy as I used to be, it's still hard to concentrate these days.
I never did find time to go to the post office today, but at least the small stack of invoices is ready to go. Years ago, I bought a humongous box of Number 10 envelopes. I jokingly told a friend that when this box was gone, it would be time to retire. Guess what. After doing my invoices today, there are only two envelopes left. Is the empty envelope box trying to tell me something? It probably really is time to retire, but then what would I do? Taking care of Dot is exhausting. I don't have the energy to start anything new. For the time being, work provides an essential link to a world that I have become detached from. Deadlines and clients remind me that there is still a world beyond cleaning up dog poop.
I wonder if Mark Cuban is feeling silly after predicting a huge stock market crash if Trump was elected. So far, the Trump rally has been pretty substantial. It's certainly helped my portfolio. If things could continue like this for another year, I might finally get back to even. The crash of 2008 was devastating for me and I still haven't recovered all I lost. I'm a realist though. I don't expect miracles. The market will continue to remain volatile. Dot will continue to grow older. And I will continue to slowly work my way toward Day 5000. The key to all of this is to just keep moving.
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